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My grandfather has given me the job of doing the family tree thing. At first I thought to myself..Ughh. But I started using Ancestry and with the little info my grandfather gave me, I now have quite a mound of documents. Its gotten kinda exciting, and also kinda heart breaking to find out I had so many relatives that didn't live very long but only a few months. I think I've gotten as far back as I'm gonna get though. There are actually a few records that are slightly incorrect but def. the people I'm looking for.

Anyhow, I was just wondering if there is another place to look for stuff like that? My grandfather is hoping to find old photos. I told him not to put his hopes to high on that one, but you never know.

No one i know has used ancestry.com, however a uncle decided to track our family back using a couple of genealogy companies, neither of which matched up with the families oral history or family records.

have not used it myself
looks promising though
My aunt did all the research on my mom's side of the family
went back a couple hundred years
She's been doing it for about 20 years now- I don't think she even has a computer lol

Someone on my father's side of the family did a family tree that's as complete as you get, from my generation all the way back to the family's first settling in North America in the end of the 18th century/beginning of the 19th.

Pictures are just very rare the further you go back. The pictures themselves aged bether than modern ones do but on the downside is there's just so much time and so many people to loose or get rid of them. All you needed was one family member that didn't care and all your history is lost. My recommendations are unfortunately fairly obvious, your library's local history section, hopefully they have the area documented quite thoroughly back to it's inception, and the local newspaper is another good source should it be old enough. Your only other option is to hunt down the families of the friends of your ancestors or their neighbours even and see if they have any suriving photos or lore.

That's about all I can think of, it's not an easy route that's for sure. Good luck man.

I have used it and found it useful - they've gotten a lot more stuff online than they used to have. It simply depends on what sort of records you need... I'll give you some advice though... (I've been doing genealogy research for a number of years... )

2) Get a good software program and use it! There are several available - I've tried them all over the years *sighs* Family Tree Maker is better than it used to be, but not the best... there are better. Most have trials available so you can look at them and go yeah-nay.

4) The Family History Library is also a great resource ... (this has nothing to do with religion) - the LDS church has simply kept lots and lots of genealogy records and lets anyone access those records through their libraries and to a lesser degree online.

5) Most of those companies that send you your "family history" - are rip-offs. A certified genealogist can help you do research. But a company sending you the "Smith" or "Jones" family tree... nope.

6) If you reach a dead-end on a direct ancestor, try the brother/sister of that person. Indirect relatives often yield more clues. (I generally research 2-3 generations down into each of my direct ancestors - so they would be my cousins...)

My sister researched our family tree, not sure if she actually used a set program but wow what a shock. We originated from Germany and called S.Africa home for quite some time before heading to Oz. Now if only we could trace our heritage to the national park and wine and find our share! lol

Never trust what your family says, only trust the actual resources. There's always alot of mythmaking in families, and plenty of black sheeps hidden in the cupboards. Get copies from parish books etc. and make your own family tree by yourself - don't trust others. If you get information second-hand, always get these data confirmed with actual evidence from historical records, otherwise they are not worth much.